The process of prioritizing loads that are connected to a power supply that has limited capacity is typically referred as load shedding. As an example, power may be supplied by a standby generator where load shedding is required because the standby generator has a capacity that is less than the requirements of the entire attached load.
Water heaters and air conditioners are among the commonly utilized devices that are powered loads by a power source (e.g., a generator). These loads may need to be shed when a residence is being supplied by a limited capacity generator. Existing load shedding systems typically prioritize each load and then determine if the limited capacity power source is able to supply the loads before adding each load. If the limited capacity power source becomes overloaded, then the load control system will remove one or more loads to allow the power source to continue supplying power to the more important connected loads.
Utilizing a load shedding system may allow a smaller standby generator to be installed thereby decreasing the generator costs that are associated with powering a facility. In addition, load shedding may decrease costs by limiting the peak demand for power during certain times of the day because such systems often allow a power generation utility to keep a less efficient generation plant offline and then pass the savings on to the customer (i.e., the generator user).
One of the drawbacks with existing load shedding systems is that although custom-designed and configured load shedding schemes work well under some conditions; many load shedding systems do not work well when operating a variety of loads under a variety of conditions.
One of the biggest challenges for a load shedding system is a high-priority switching load. In one example scenario, a high-priority switching load may be deactivated which allows less important loads to be added. Therefore, once the high-priority switching load is eventually turned on, the power source becomes overloaded. The load shedding system must then shed several loads before the load that is actually causing the overload is removed. The additional time that is required to shed multiple loads increases the likelihood of the power source becoming overloaded for an undesirable period of time. Although many existing load shedding systems are customized in an attempt to minimize unintended power source dropouts, such systems are still often unable to adequately handle high-priority switching loads.
Another drawback with conventional load shedding systems is that in some scenarios, all of the loads may not be drawing power from the generator during an overload condition. As an example, six loads may be activated by the system even though only two of the loads are actually drawing power. As a result, when an overload occurs after all these loads have been added, the system may have to take unnecessary time to shed as many as five loads before actual load on the power source decreases at all. This increase in time to shed the appropriate load could result in the power source going offline.
Load shedding systems must also typically be carefully configured in order to work in each application because standard load shedding logic does not accurately match the load profile of a typical power source or a typical motor load. As a result, these existing systems are typically unable to start large motors that would otherwise typically lie within the starting capabilities of the generator. Configuring a typical load shedding system to permit starting a large motor will typically result in inadequate protection for the generator.